Propane-caused explosion south of Safford

By Jon Johnson
Assistant Editor
Published on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 9:19 AM MST

A burner assembly attached to a tank containing Thermoplastic road-marking paint exploded Friday afternoon near milepost 97 on Highway 191. Thermoplastic road-marking paint must be heated to a certain temperature during application.

The explosion was about 25 miles south of Safford in the construction zone, where the highway is being widened to a four-lane divided highway. The tank was located on the east side of the highway.

The Safford Fire Department arrived at around 2 p.m. and cooled down the propane tanks. Fire Chief Mike Rhodes said there were three 25-gallon and one 5-gallon tanks on the trailer. Although the fire surrounded the tanks, they did not rupture.

Firefighters cool down propane tanks after a burner assembly on a tank containing road-marking paint exploded nearby. Photo by Jon Johnson

Rhodes said the burner assembly malfunctioned and blew through the diamond-plated bottom of a trailer the unit was on. He said a 2-foot-square door was found 60 feet away from the site.

According to Rhodes, some Arizona Department of Transportation workers had lit the assembly to heat the paint before leaving the area to work on something else. He said it appeared that the unit had a propane leak that caused the explosion.

Department of Public Safety Sgt. Dan Long said workers noticed the explosion and called authorities. ADOT workers were able to put out the fire on the trailer and several surrounding grass fires with their water truck. Nobody was injured.

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